With the addition of the Zhanying troops to the Imperial Service, this Yu Jing sectorial is getting more and more good link options. It's always a risk that new units will render older units less useful (I hesitate to say obsolete, in Infinity), but what happens when a particular link has never really been all that good? Does the new link option just drive the final nail into the coffin?
This is all a roundabout way of getting at my main topic: that is, Bao Troops link teams. The Bao have long been maligned as an inferior choice in the Imperial Service, but I've never really been on-board with the idea that "they suck". After all, there
are a lot of MSV2s in the faction, but the other carriers (Hsien, Rui Shi) are both Hacking-vulnerable - and there is a
lot of Hacking going on in N3. The Bao carry some solid combinations of weaponry, especially now that Shotguns are table-worthy, and have a high BTS to resist the growing amount of BTS-targeting ammo in the game. Plus, V: Courage really helps if you get knocked into Retreat. So why are they bad?
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| "Bao" is either this or a pork bun. I'll go with this. |
Short answer is, they're not. At least,
one Bao isn't bad. When you start adding more of them, though, you're suddenly tempted to take a link, and that's where - I think - they start to get crappy. I'm not just going to leave that statement there as a bomb and walk away, though. Here are five major reasons (in no particular order) why I think Bao links are part of bad ISS list-making, and why I will never run them as long as things remain the way they are.
5 - Need to compete with comparably-costed links
Whether you love it or hate it, you have to admit that the Imperial Service has access to a lot of link options:
- Celestial Guard
- Celestial Guard with Crane Lt.
- Wu Ming
- Pheasant
- Crane
- Hsien
- Kuang Shi
- Zhanying
- Bao with Pheasant
Some of the links are points outliers, like the Crane, Hsien, and Kuang Shi links, but for the most part they seem to cluster around a similar points bracket. You can get a full Wu Ming link for about 175 points, and a full Zhanying for around 140-150. The Wu Ming are tough, have access to Specialists, and carry some impressive weaponry. The Zhanying, on the other hand, are reasonably fragile - but also have access to Specialists and some very cool guns, not to mention Sensors. Bao links, at their bare minimum, weigh in around 150 points, and besides their MSV2s, they don't seem to bring too much to the party. The only Specialist they can have is their Pheasant liaison, and the heaviest gun they carry is either a
Multi-Sniper Rifle or a Combi (admittedly, though, they have X-Visors). For the cost, I'm honestly expecting a lot more here.
4 - Need more Specialist options
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| I'd take an Engineer, or a Doctor, or even a Forward Observer... |
I've already mentioned it, but the Bao link needs more Specialist options to compete with its alternatives. The
only Specialist available to them is a Pheasant Hacker, and you can only take one of these per link in the first place. Once it's dead, that's it: you don't have any redundancies (unlike Celestial Guard, Wu Ming, and Zhanying links), and you can't even reassemble your link. Which brings me to my next point...
3 - Need to get rid of the Pheasant (more appropriately called the Albatross)
The Pheasant is a huge and heavy weight around the collective Bao neck. You
need one to even think of making a Bao link, and when it dies, you can never again reform your link - because you
must have a Pheasant to connect your Bao. Things would be different if you only needed the Pheasant to make the link during list creation, because it could die and you'd still be able to reform your link with a Command Token. The way it stands, though, lacking a Pheasant means that you absolutely cannot reform a Bao link, which just seems like a needless limitation. If the Bao were amazingly durable and kill-crazy models, I might understand the need for a lynchpin model. But they're not, not at all....at least no better than the existing ISS options that don't need such a lynchpin.
2 - Needs more weapon options
The Bao link also needs more weapon options. They are very well-kitted on an individual basis, but they only have three possible loadouts:
- Combi-Rifle/Light-Shotgun (X-Visor) - good burst and very versatile, but nothing above Damage 13 and only a passable ARO.
- Boarding Shotgun/Contender (X-Visor) - good damage and a decent ARO, but burst is subpar and +3 ranges are short for assault model (definitely more of an ARO threat, here).
- Multi-Sniper Rifle - great damage and ARO, but very reliant upon range bands to be effective - or not. Low burst, but the ammo types make up for it.
Any one of these models is really cool on its own, and fills the MSV2 niche pretty damn well. Together, though, you're paying for redundant MSV systems that don't have Specialist or heavy weapons support; definitely a unit to take against a very
specific threat. When I take a link, though, I want it to be able to deal with as many threats as possible. That's why I'll keep going to other link team options and not the Bao.
1 - A bit more durability
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| Even this would help... |
The BTS on Bao Troops is amazing, and it makes them super-tough against select types of ammunition. Their ARM of 1, though, leaves a lot to be desired - and, unfortunately, they're competing for a link position with models that all have ARM ranging from 2 to 4 (and/or 2 Wounds!). It's true that they can't be Hacked (like the Wu Ming), but they're also exceptionally fragile for ~30 point models. I can manage one or two Bao on their own, because I don't
need 2 Wound models to win. But managing a full link, a massive points investment? Not so much.
Bao Troops are decent, but how do you feel about Bao links? Have you made them work for you? Have they been worth their points?
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